Raymond Boyce Thompson-Hood Veterans Center Wilmore, Kentucky Raymond "Ray" Boyce is an extraordinary man with an incredible story to tell. Private First Class Boyce was among 32 young men assigned to the Big Red One-the First Infantry Division of the U.S. Army. They were brave men, trained for arduous frontline battle and survival in the roughest conditions. As dawn rose on June 6, 1944, Mr. Boyce and his fellow soldiers descended their landing craft for an all-out assault on the Normandy coast of northern France-the largest seaborne invasion in history-designed to force the Germans out of France during World War II. The choppy water along the coastline was unforgiving, but the gunfire was more so. "Of the 32 of us in my unit, only eight of us made it alive to the beach," remembers Mr. Boyce, "and four of us were wounded. My right hip was shot off-they later found seven machine gun bullets there-and I had to crawl through the water to the beach." Mr. Boyce somehow made it to shore, where he hunkered down for two days and two nights as bullets whizzed over his head. "I hid on my stomach, just hugging ol' mother earth. The gunfire around me was so low that it shot the straps right off my backpack. I stayed put, stayed low, and said a few choice words, but somehow I made it out alive." Mr. Boyce lost a lot of blood on the beach at Normandy, but managed to stay conscious until, on the morning of June 8, "four great big guys put me on a cot and lifted me off the beach." It wasn't until he heard them speaking English that Mr. Boyce realized he was safe, in American hands. He was transported to a hospital in England, where he stayed for four months before returning stateside to Springfield, Missouri, where he spent another 12 months hospitalized in traction to help heal the hip correctly. Not long after Mr. Boyce left the hospital, he was honored in a simple ceremony by General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who personally pinned the distinguished Purple Heart on Mr. Boyce's military dress uniform. In addition to the Purple Heart, Mr. Boyce has garnered a dozen or so honors from the U.S. Army, including the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Combat Infantry Medal, Good Conduct Medal and Oak Leaf Cluster. "As my buddy used to say, 'War is hell on earth,'" adds Mr. Boyce. "I'm proud to have served but it's not something I think I'd ever want to do again." Today Mr. Boyce gets around in a wheelchair and enjoys playing card games and Bingo with the other residents of the Thompson-Hood Veterans Center. He's seemingly content with his life at the home, where they provide "three hots and a cot" and make sure his physical, medical and emotional needs are met.